14 JANUARY 1911, Page 16

[To THE EDITOR. OP THE "SPECTATOR.") SIR,—Whatever may have been

the nationality of Cromwell's nearest ancestors, is it not certain that his earliest must have been Englishmen ? So far as I know, there is but one parish of Cromwell, and that is in England, near Sonthwell, Notts. Unless Cromwell's family had at some time in the past assumed this surname, it would seem most probable that the usual rule had applied. Just as Henry of Huntingdon and Geoffrey of Monmouth sank in process of time into Henry Huntingdon and Geoffrey Monmouth, so there must have been a time when some ancestor, with Christian name unknown to us, was called "of Cromwell," and this descriptive genitive became in time plain " Cromwell."—I am, Sir, &c., C. H. R.